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Davis’s activism around gender and media began when she noticed the bias in the kids’ TV programs her young daughter watched. Program executives didn’t believe her so she set out to collect the data to prove there was bias in the onscreen depictions aimed at young children.

“I feel like this is the easiest fix. It’s the lowest hanging fruit in the panoply of problems we have and it’s also the most urgent. Why are we teaching kids something we try so hard to get rid of later on,� she said, citing the motto of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media: “If they see it they can be it.�

“A girl sees Hunger Games, she goes out and buys a bow. A woman sees CSI or X-Factor, she goes into the STEM fields,� said Davis.

University of Southern California professor Stacy Smith, who works with the Davis’s institute, brought academic heft and statistics to the stage on John St. near the film festival’s King St. headquarters.

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Among the statistics Smith cited: Of 1,100 films over the last 11 years, only four per cent had female directors. Of 1,223 directors, only 11 were women of colour and, of the top 100 films of 2017, only four leading characters were women of colour. Among 59,715 film reviews, only four per cent were written by women of colour.

“This needs to change now,� said Smith.

The event was held at the first TIFF since movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was toppled by sexual assault allegations. Festival organizers signalled their support for the ensuing push for human rights and zero tolerance. Before the Share Her Journey rally, artistic director Cameron Bailey pledged TIFF’s support for a broader industry gender parity movement called 50/50 by 2020.

The Directors Guild of Canada also used TIFF to launch a national campaign called “So Not Cool,� which encourages bystanders, actors and film crews to build safe, respectful environments on and off movie sets.

Sundance Insitute executive director Keri Putnam told the rally she has witnessed discrimination in the back rooms of the industry she loves.

“I watched as talented women directors who stood up for their vision were called difficult, while men who did the same were called visionary,� Putnam said.

“I noticed that white male directors got new assignments even when their work was mediocre while most women struggled to build their careers, and I found that when budgets and stakes on my projects got higher, the corporate appetite for hiring diverse voices faded.�

Women’s progress is inhibited by the myths that there is a talent shortage — “the shortage has been in the jobs (women) have been offered that would have provided them the same experience as their male peers,� said Smith.

The other prevailing myths are that women aren’t leaders, that they are too emotional and indecisive, and that women’s stories are not commercially viable.

“Women directors are 50/50 in film schools but make up only 17 per cent of Sundance’s feature film submissions and women of colour even less,� she said.

pc28¹ÙÍøwriter-producer Amelia Egan, 31, and her partner and collaborator Ian Gibson went to the rally with son Aurelius, carrying a sign that said, “Why is my mom still paid less than those guys?â€�

Not much has changed in Canada since the advent of #MeToo, said Egan, who writes mostly women’s stories — “stories about female poverty, stories that we just don’t see and hear that are not necessarily sexy but are real and represent my culture.�

“Access to funds is hard unless you’ve already produced a feature in the Canadian system,� said Egan. “It’s a struggle to get male producers to pay attention to your stories. Everyone wants to produce films about men killing men and women.�

But she said she is hopeful.

“I just heard about a Sundance program that I’m going to go home and apply to,� said Egan. “It seems like the mobilization is happening.�